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MLB Notebook: Davis goes 0-for-8, earns win

MLB Notebook: Davis goes 0-for-8, earns win

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Davis earns the win 1:40

5/6/12: Infielder Chris Davis pitches two shutout innings and strikes out two in his first Major League outing to earn his first win

By Roger Schlueter
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MLB.com |

In 1911, Ty Cobb batted .420 and won the American League batting title. The following year, he batted .409 and won another crown. In 1922, Cobb reached the .400 mark for a third time, with a .401 average. Cobb did not win the batting championship that season, as George Sisler hit .420 to pace the AL. It was the second time in three seasons Sisler reached the .400 mark, having batted .407 in 1920.

Cobb and Sisler are the only players in the long and storied history of the AL to have multiple .400 seasons. But for today, these two great position players are particularly relevant because of their convergence as pitchers in a single game in the 1925 season, a season during which they hit .378 and .345, respectively.

Orioles, Red Sox
Baltimore's Chris Davis started the game at designated hitter, went 0-for-8 at the plate and pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Davis is the first AL position player to earn a win since Rocky Colavito threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the Yankees against the Tigers on Aug. 25, 1968.

Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald took the loss, allowing three runs in an inning. With his appearance, along with Davis' turn on the mound for the O's, STATS LLC noted that this game was the first since Oct. 4, 1925, to see both teams bring in players from the field to pitch. On that day, Cobb started in center field, pitched a scoreless eighth inning and recorded the save (although it wasn't a statistic at that time) in Detroit's 11-6 victory over the Browns. Sisler pitched two innings of scoreless relief that day for St. Louis, after starting the game at first base. Sisler had made 18 appearances on the mound in his first two Major League seasons (1915-16), with 11 of those appearances coming as a starting pitcher.

Davis is the second individual in as many seasons to begin a game as a position player and end up with a win as a pitcher. On May 25, 2011, the Phillies' Wilson Valdez opened a 19-inning game against the Reds at second base, and ended up recording a victory with a scoreless inning. Before Valdez, the last player to start a game in the field and then record a win on the mound was Babe Ruth on Oct. 1, 1921.

Baltimore and Boston each used nine pitchers in the game. This contest marked the 19th game since 1918 that at least 18 pitchers faced a batter. The last time at least 18 pitchers made it to the mound in a game was on Sept. 28, 2011, when the Yankees and Rays combined to use 19. The high mark for pitchers in a game since 1918 is 20, in a Rockies-Cubs game on Sept. 30, 2006.

Davis and Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez each went 0-for-8.

This game marked the 27th since 1918 to feature at least two players collect at least eight official at-bats and finish with no hits. Two games in 1971 produced a total of four players. On July 9 that year, in a 1-0, 20-inning Oakland Athletics win over the California Angels, Angels batters Tony Conigliaro, Billy Cowan and Syd O'Brien each go 0-for-8, while Oakland's Joe Rudi took the collar in eight at-bats. On Sept. 24, the Astros beat the Padres, 2-1, in 21 innings, with Joe Morgan, Cesar Cedeno and Denis Menke going 0-for-8 for Houston, and Larry Stahl going 0-for-9 for San Diego.

Davis is the first Orioles player to finish hitless in at least eight at-bats since Don Buford on Aug. 25, 1968. Gonzalez is the first Red Sox player to do it since Jacoby Ellsbury on July 17, 2011.

Davis is the first player to finish a game with no hits in at least eight at-bats and be part of the pitching decision since Brooklyn's Jeff Pfeffer was the losing pitcher in an 18-inning complete game on June 1, 1919. In that game, Milt Watson was the winning pitcher (he went 0-for-4 at the plate). On July 17, 1918, Watson went 0-for-8 and was the losing pitcher in a game against the Cubs.

Baltimore's Matt Wieters and Boston's Jarrod Saltalamacchia each caught the entire game for their respective clubs, and 570 pitches were thrown in this contest.

The victory improved Baltimore's record to 19-9, giving it the best mark in the AL. It is only the sixth time in franchise history that the club has begun the year by winning at least 19 of its first 28 games. In 1969 and 1970, the O's opened 20-8, while in 1992, '97 and 2005, Baltimore began 19-9.

Pagan
Angel Pagan went 2-for-4 on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 20 games.

Pagan's teammate Pablo Sandoval already had a 20-game hitting streak this season, making these two the fourth pair of Giants teammates to each hit in at least 20 straight in the same season. The others:

Pagan and Sandoval are the only pair of switch-hitting teammates since at least 1918 to each have a 20-game hitting streak in the same season.

Falu
After 4,098 plate appearances over 949 games in 10 Minor League seasons, the Royals' Irving Falu made his Major League debut on Sunday and tripled in his first plate appearance. Falu is the third player in Royals history to collect a triple in his first trip to the plate in the Majors, joining Brian McRae on Aug. 7, 1990, and Edgar Caceres on June 8, 1995. Falu later singled to become the 16th player in franchise history to have at least two hits in his big league debut. Before Falu, the most recent Royal to do this was Johnny Giavotella on Aug. 5, 2011.

Darvish
Yu Darvish fanned 11 but took the loss on Sunday, as the Indians beat the Rangers, 4-2.

Darvish is the second pitcher in franchise history, joining Bobby Witt in 1986, to collect at least two double-digit strikeout games within his first six Major League appearances.

In his past three appearances, Darvish has struck out 10, nine and 11. He is the first Rangers pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1991 to have at least nine K's in three straight appearances: Ryan did it in five straight from April 8 through May 1.

Ubaldo
Cleveland's Ubaldo Jimenez picked up the win after throwing seven scoreless innings and allowing two hits. Jimenez, who allowed one hit in seven innings in his first start of the season, is the sixth Indians pitcher since 1918 to have a pair of starts of seven-plus innings and no more than two hits allowed through the club's first 26 games. The others: Bob Feller in 1947, Sam McDowell in 1966, Sonny Siebert in 1968, Jake Westbrook in 2004 and Cliff Lee in 2008.

Reds
Mat Latos (six innings, 11 K's, two hits) and three relievers combined for a three-hitter with 17 strikeouts in the Reds' 5-0 win over the Pirates on Sunday. This combined effort marked the 12th time in the live-ball era a team finished a nine-inning game with at least 17 K's and no more than three hits allowed while allowing no runs. In eight of the previous 11 times this has occurred, the line was courtesy of a complete-game effort.

1920-2012: 17-plus K's, 0 runs, three or fewer hits

Team

Date

Line

Notes

Angels

July 15, 1973

17 K's, 0 Hits

Nolan Ryan no-hitter

Dodgers

June 4, 1990

18 K's, 3 Hits

Ramon Martinez shutout

Mets

Oct. 6, 1991

19 K's, 3 Hits

David Cone shutout

Cubs

May 6, 1998

20 K's, 1 Hit

Kerry Wood shutout

Blue Jays

Aug. 25, 1998

18 K's, 3 Hits

Roger Clemens shutout

D-backs

July 18, 2001

17 K's, 1 Hit

Curt Schilling & Randy Johnson

D-backs

April 7, 2002

17 K's, 1 Hit

Curt Schilling shutout

Marlins

July 21, 2002

17 K's, 3 Hits

Josh Beckett, two relievers

D-backs

Sept. 14, 2002

17 K's, 3 Hits

Randy Johnson shutout

Twins

Aug. 19, 2007

19 K's, 2 Hits

Johan Santana & Joe Nathan

Blue Jays

Aug. 8, 2010

17 K's, 1 Hit

Brandon Morrow shutout

Reds

May 6, 2012

17 K's, 3 Hits

Mat Latos, three relievers

Roger Schlueter is senior researcher for MLB Productions. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.